With Philadelphia so close to actually turning its entire system Charter as its district continues to fail, it concerns me, as these practices are really only ways to pass the buck. The problem with our education system isn’t so much who runs the schools but rather lays in how much our society really values education. We don’t. This is evident in our historical answers to solving problems in schools: adjust funding, add police, make it private. So we either throw money at the problem or hand it over to somebody else.
Even the terrible idea of abusing standardized, high stakes, testing is turning the problem over to others because private companies are contracted to develop those tests, and just as the people who are privately organizing schools, they are making a lot of money for little results. We don’t actually value education as a society, we value fashion and athletics and wealth and power and big explosions in movies. We certainly wish we cared about education. We wish we cared so much that we’re going to hire somebody else to take care of the problem, and if they don’t do a good enough job well…we can just fire the nanny and hire a new one, right?
In New York, the push for Charters has been incredible under the guidance of Mayor Bloomberg, with Harlem Success Academy being the poster child for the entire movement. Even mentioning the word “Charter” in a traditional Public School in New York is bound to have teachers scrambling for their personal affects and revamping their cover letters, it happens so often. Privatization, it so happens, is very good for business, and the Mayor is very good at business. Just ask the homeless being served by Aramark in shelters where volunteers used to serve and donate food. Charter Schools have no bigger friend than Mayor Bloomberg who wants to have everything developed privately—of course this is a man who wanted to run the New York City Marathon after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy because it would “generate a lot of business”. The Marathon wouldn’t have helped anyone, and privatizing essential public services like Education won’t help anyone either. It will leave them unaccountable to the people, and engender exclusivity of the service.
Yes, the end of my prediction for the future paved by over implementation of the would-be useful experimental alternative playgrounds of Charter Schools, is tuition instead of admission. Once cities have gone all Charter, they will cut all funding the municipalities are offering and they will start charging tuition. Some may argue that it isn’t legal, but then again neither is phone tapping every Verizon Customer in the country. What we will be left with after that is a Dickensian world of uneducated urchins and pick-pockets swimming in a sea of sidewalks and alleys, swiping the pocket watches of the rich and literate. A 19th century and third word situation, all because of our lack of true caring and responsibility for what we need be doing in education, for our own sakes. We don’t need education reform, we need education restart and rebuild.
We live in incredible times—and they can be made either positive or negative in the long run. Will Bloomberg’s twelve year reign over New York prove positive or restrictive overall? It’s hard to tell, but I certainly feel the burden of more restrictions rather than greater freedoms in that time. Will this tumultuous time in our country’s history regarding education reform prove to be our shining moment of care, or the moment when we decided that education really isn’t that important to us; that it isn’t the single most important economic factor we should be vitalizing; that it should cater to all learners and not just those ready to enter service-based professions? These decisions will leave more than an indelible mark on the country and the city…they will define their future in every possible aspect. How many nannies do we have to fire before we take responsibility for ourselves, and decide what really is important and who benefits from our “reforms”?
The Truth Be Told.